Technical Field
The technical field relates to dispensing coupons to viewers of media content and in particular, providing coupons to an individual to buy the product just after they have viewed a commercial or other media program featuring that item on T.V.
Description of the Related Art
Some mobile devices obtain latitude and longitude coordinates at various times. These devices, such as Smartphones or tablets, are typically carried with a user during the day and therefore have the same latitude and longitude as the user's location. These devices may use GPS, wireless network identification, cell phone triangulation and/or other location methods to determine latitude and longitude.
Mobile devices also send information to other devices, including those connected on the same network or on different networks. These devices may communicate via a cell phone network carrier, data network carrier, wireless network, Bluetooth connections, or other communication methods.
Receiving devices, such as set top boxes, receive content from a content distributor. The received content consists of program and advertising content, as well as content information which may include title, description, length, and other information. Examples of program content include but are not limited to movies, documentaries, series, and audio programs. Examples of advertising content include but are not limited to infomercials, product advertisements, and coupons for particular stores such as department stores, automotive stores, and restaurants.
Broadcasters can currently target advertising at certain households based on demographic information such as age, number of people in a household, income, credit score, etc. In one example Invidi Technologies uses data from sources such as Experian® to target advertisements to set top boxes based on information found in a user's credit report. Determining relevant program and advertising content based on the geocoded location history of set top box users is not currently used.
Some content-generation devices, such as cameras in GPS-enabled Smartphones and GPS-enabled video recorders such as the Sony Handycam HDR-XR520V, are able to capture geocoding information in the form of latitude and longitude and associate it with pictures or video clips during filming. In addition, editing systems exist that allow geocoding information to be edited or inserted into content after generation.
Broadcast content providers such as HBO, Showtime, NBC, and others do not currently include geocoding information in their broadcast content.